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Memorable Mondays: Heartwarming moments
Welcome to MSGVarsity.com’s Memorable Mondays, a summer-long series that looks back on the top players, games and moments from the past season and gazes ahead to 2012-13. As the summer goes on, we’ll compile all the lists and post them here: www.msgvarsity.com/mondays. New Lists will be posted every Monday at noon.
In Week 5 of Memorable Mondays, we look at five of the most heartwarming stories from New York City high schools.
Archbishop Molloy baseball: Mike Rogers was determined to play in Archbishop Molloy’s decisive third game of its CHSAA Class AA third round qualifying series against Holy Cross. Not even 45 stitches on the side of his face was going to stop the junior catcher. His appearance alone lifted the Stanners, but he also had two hits and scored a pair of runs in the 9-5 series-clinching win. Rogers needed the stitches to close a gash he received on a winning slide home 24 hours earlier.
Bishop Loughlin girls basketball: When Bishop Loughlin defeated Curtis at the Times Union Center in Albany, the Lions not only won the first New York State Class A Federation title in school history, they also completed a season-long quest to win for Tayshana (Chicken) Murphy, who was killed in September. The guard was a teammate to all on the Loughlin roster, but her bond was even closer with Kasim Alston, who was not only her coach, but also her godfather.
Grand Street Campus baseball: The tears flowed for Melvin Martinez after the Grand Street Campus coach saw his team win its first PSAL Class A title after 17 years of frustration. But that’s not the only thing that made the Wolves 2-1 win over George Washington so special. Martinez’s 70-year-old father, Eudalio, made a surprise appearance at MCU Park in Coney Island despite a chemotherapy treatment 24 hours for his battle with leukemia.
Nazareth boys basketball: Nazareth’s season ended with a loss in the New York State Class B State Federation semifinals, but coach Todd Jamison didn’t want his team to focus on the end result, but rather the journey, which included winning the CHSAA Class B city and state titles. The possibility of the school’s closure, which was announced in January, was a rallying cry for the Kingsmen. The team didn’t end the season with a third title, but the squad, and the school, will get to live another day.
Nazareth girls basketball: Eight days after their coach, Apache Paschall, died of a heart attack at the age of 38, the Nazareth girls basketball team finally returned to the court to play Archbishop Molloy. It was therapeutic for the players, who honored Paschall in a touching pre-game ceremony, attended by Paschall’s mother, Elaine Bartlett, and daughter, Nytea. After the tears, the nationally ranked Lady Kingsmen shook off a slow start to beat the Stanners, 77-63.
Join us throughout the summer as “Memorable Mondays” brings you more top 5 lists:
July 30: Top five favorite venues from 2011-12
Aug. 6: Top five coaches from 2011-12
Aug. 13: Top five most memorable games from 2011-12
Aug. 20: Top five teams from 2011-12
Aug. 27: Top five teams to watch in 2012-13
Find them all at www.msgvarsity/mondays
Tri-State Top 20: Final poll
NYC power rankings: Spring sports
All-Metro boys and girls basketball: 2012-13
2012-2013 All-City teams
